ERBIL, Iraq — As befits a respected member of the community, Mariam Nadr, 77, lives in a fine home in an upscale neighborhood of Erbil. There is nothing to indicate that the way she achieved her prominence was by performing genital mutilations on countless numbers of Kurdish girls over the years.

For Nadr and the women who brought their daughters to her home, the act was a cultural and religious rite of passage.

But in recent years, the practice has come under attack from women’s right groups, physicians and religious leaders as barbaric.

Change comes slowly, however, to the Kurdish-controlled section of Iraq.

“No one told me mutilation is bad,” Nadr said. “I did it for the sake of religion.”

Female genital mutilation is an ancient procedure involving the partial or total removal of external female genitalia. It is commonly performed in family homes under unsanitary conditions by women with no formal medical training. By some accounts, the clitoris of a girl is sliced off and ash is applied to the incision to ease the pain.

Practitioners say the practice is a religious tradition, although research shows the custom preceded Kurdistan’s conversion to Islam and Islamic leaders have disavowed any connection. Rural folklore holds that food prepared by women who have not had the procedure is not halal, or pure.

The results of a recently conducted survey found that female genital mutilation is a common practice in Iraqi Kurdistan. The study, financed by the German relief organization Wadi, found that 74 percent of Kurdish women had undergone the procedure.

The practice appears to be on the decline, however, with only 57 percent of women under age 20 having undergone the procedure as opposed to 96 percent of women in their 70s.

The procedure is also less common among well-educated women.

“The study shows a clear correlation between the level of education and the attitudes towards (female genital mutilation),” the report found. “Still, the rate among university graduates is 30 percent. But it becomes clear that with an increasing social status, women are more likely to question harmful traditions and alleged religious obligations.” As recently as the 1970s, local mosques used loudspeakers during the months of March and April to urge parents to conduct the procedure on their daughters. Many women’s rights organizations are now hoping that religious leaders will help end the practice.

“The Holy Koran has not ordered females to be circumcised and there is no strong hadith (saying of the Prophet Muhammad) that says females should be mutilated in this way,” said Dr. Basher Khalil al-Hadad, head of the Kurdistan parliament’s religious affairs committee and the mullah at Jalil Khayat Mosque, the biggest mosque in Kurdistan.

Hadad added that the top Islamic scholars at Al-Azhar University in Cairo had outlawed female genital mutilation and issued a decree stating the practice has nothing to do with Islam.

“You must understand, Kurdistan has a conservative society. It is difficult for many mullahs to talk about the practice openly,” Hadad said.

While local media, non-governmental organizations and women’s groups have raised public awareness, the subject is still considered taboo. A bill introduced in the Kurdish parliament making the practice a crime has been postponed indefinitely, and many politicians are reluctant to address it.

“I went to parliament with a group of women. First, they said they had more important issues to deal with, and then they said they didn’t want to talk about it with us. We brought a film for them to watch and they were too shy to watch it,” said Tara Alif, 27, a lawyer and women’s rights activist who has pushed the proposed legislation.

“I can’t call Kurdish society modern because we still have problems like this. This is a big obstacle to improving society,” she added.

Qassim Khidhir is a reporter in northern Iraq who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict. Write to Khidhir at the Institute for War & Peace Reporting, 48 Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, U.K.

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